‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Legacy Trailer Takes Us Back to the Beginning

It may not have a number in its title, but Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth film in a series stretching back to 1979. And while original star Mel Gibson has been replaced by Tom Hardy, director George Miller is present and accounted for, still wrecking cars in the post-apocalypse for your amusement. The newest trailer for the Fury Road, labeled the “legacy trailer,” uses footage from the past films build up to the newest entry to remind potential viewers this isn’t just another action franchise. This is Mad freaking Max.

Most of the old footage comes from the original Mad Max and its superior sequel The Road Warrior, but the trailer does a remarkable job of incorporating select scenes from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome without derailing the whole thing. The opening half of this trailer is a delightful journey through Nostalgiaville and a reminder that Miller has been making cars go boom real nice for over three decades.

And then the trailer hits the actual Fury Road footage, which is just as astonishing as everything else we’ve seen. This movie, people. This movie.

The funny thing about a trailer directly tying Mad Max: Fury Road to its predecessors is that the three previous films are wildly disconnected. Mad Max doesn’t seem to take place in the same universe as The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome is a crazy left turn into something else entirely. Fury Road probably won’t have a direct connection to the old films either. Unlike the continuity-obsessed blockbusters of today, Miller’s movies are connected by cars, a tough no-nonsense leading man, and an anarchic state of mind. Forget about plot. Leave that to everyone else.